Nothing is known of Barritt's education, but he developed a strong taste for archæological research which did not interfere with his success as a businessman.
[2] He kept a saddle-maker's shop in Hanging Ditch, and gathered a very curious collection of manuscripts and miscellaneous objects of antiquity.
Barritt's claim to remembrance is that with great patience and skill he recorded many facts in the history of the district which would otherwise have been lost.
[3] His correspondence with the leading antiquaries of the time, including Thomas Dunham Whitaker, Lord Stanley, Joseph Hunter and Sir John Prestwich[4] appears to have been extensive.
John Parsons Earwaker wrote a monograph on the swords attributed to the Prince, which discussed the claims of Barritt and others.